H. B. 2706
(By Delegates DeLong, Browning, Duke, Miley and Yost)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9A-2, §18-9A-10, §18-9A-11, §18-9A-
13b and §18-9A-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, all relating to reforming the school aid formula by
reducing from ninety-eight percent to seventy-percent the
amount of the regular levy deducted from county boards of
education for general current expense purposes; by ensuring
that improved instructional programs receive at least $33
million annually; by providing at least $5 million to the
State Board of Education to assist low-performing schools; by
capturing moneys from declining enrollment and direct it to
salaries of classroom teachers and service personnel; and by
requiring at least an $8 million annual appropriation for
alternative education programs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-9A-2, §18-9A-10, §18-9A-11, §18-9A-13b and §18-9A-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-2. Definitions.
For the purpose of this article:
"State board" means the West Virginia Board of Education.
"County board" or "board" means a county board of education.
"Professional salaries" means the state legally mandated
salaries of the professional educators as provided in article four,
chapter eighteen-a of this code.
"Professional educator" shall be synonymous with and shall
have the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one,
article one, chapter eighteen of this code.
"Professional instructional personnel" means a professional
educator whose regular duty is as that of a classroom teacher,
librarian, counselor, attendance director, school psychologist or
school nurse with a bachelors degree and who is licensed by the
West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional
Nurses. A professional educator having both instructional and
administrative or other duties shall be included as professional
instructional personnel for that ratio of the school day for which
he or she is assigned and serves on a regular full-time basis in
appropriate instruction, library, counseling, attendance,
psychologist or nursing duties.
"Service personnel salaries" shall mean the state legally
mandated salaries for service personnel as provided in section
eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
"Service personnel" shall mean means all personnel as provided
for in section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this
code. For the purpose of computations under this article of ratios
of service personnel to adjusted enrollment, a service employee
shall be counted as that number found by dividing his or her number
of employment days in a fiscal year by two hundred: Provided,
That
the computation for any such person employed for three and one-half
hours or less per day as provided in section eight-a, article four,
chapter eighteen-a of this code shall be calculated as one half an
employment day.
"Net enrollment" means the number of pupils enrolled in
special education programs, kindergarten programs and grades one to
twelve, inclusive, of the public schools of the county. Commencing
with the school year beginning on the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, net enrollment further shall
include adults enrolled in regular secondary vocational programs
existing as of the effective date of this section: Provided,
That
net enrollment shall include no more than one thousand such adults
counted on the basis of full-time equivalency and apportioned
annually to each county in proportion to the adults participating
in regular secondary vocational programs in the prior year counted on the basis of full-time equivalency: Provided, however,
That no
tuition or special fees beyond that required of the regular
secondary vocational student is charged for such adult students.
"Adjusted enrollment" means the net enrollment plus twice the
number of pupils enrolled for special education. Commencing with
the school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred ninety, adjusted enrollment means the net enrollment
plus twice the number of pupils enrolled for special education,
including exceptional gifted, plus the number of pupils in grades
nine through twelve enrolled for honors and advanced placement
programs, plus the number of pupils enrolled on the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, in the gifted program
in grades nine through twelve. Provided,
That commencing with the
school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety No more than four percent of net enrollment of
grades one through eight may be counted as enrolled in gifted
education and no more than six percent of net enrollment of grades
nine through twelve may be counted as enrolled in gifted education,
exceptional gifted education (subject to the limitation set forth
in section one, article twenty of this chapter) and honors and
advanced placement programs for the purpose of determining adjusted
enrollment within a county: Provided, however,
Provided further,
That until the school year
beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-two, the preceding percentage limitations shall not restrict
the adjusted enrollment definition for a county to the extent that
those limitations are exceeded by students enrolled in gifted
education programs on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-nine: And provided further,
That No pupil may be
counted more than three times for the purpose of determining
adjusted enrollment. Such enrollment shall be adjusted to the
equivalent of the instructional term and in accordance with such
eligibility requirements and rules as established by the state
board. No pupil shall be counted more than once by reason of
transfer within the county or from another county within the state,
and no pupil shall be counted who attends school in this state from
another state.
"Levies for general current expense purposes" means ninety-
eight percent of the levy rate for county boards of education
calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of
section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code.
"Basic resources per pupil" for the state and the several
counties means the total of: (a) Ninety-five percent of the
property tax revenues computed at the levy rate for county boards
of education calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the
provisions of section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code, but excluding revenues from increased levies as provided in
section ten, article X of the Constitution of West Virginia; and
(b) basic state aid as provided in sections twelve and thirteen of
this article, but excluding the foundation allowance to improve
instructional programs as provided in section ten of this article,
and excluding any funds appropriated for the purpose of achieving
salary equity among county board employees, this total divided by
the number of students in adjusted enrollment. Provided,
That
Beginning with the school year commencing on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, and thereafter, the
foundation allowance for transportation costs as provided in
section seven of this article shall also be excluded and the total
shall be divided by the number of students in net enrollment:
Provided, however,
§18-9A-10. Foundation allowance to improve instructional programs.
(a) For each school year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight two thousand seven, and
thereafter, the sum of the allocations at least fifty million
dollars shall be the amount appropriated allocated by the
Legislature for those the purposes in subsection (a) of this section:
(1) One hundred fifty thousand dollars shall be allocated to
to each county;
(2) Distribution to the counties of the remainder of these
funds shall be made proportional to the average of each county's
average daily attendance for the preceding year and the county's
second month net enrollment. Moneys allocated by provision of this
section shall be used to improve instructional programs according
to a plan for instructional improvement which the affected county
board shall file with the state board by the first day of August of
each year, to be approved by the state board by the first day of
September of that year if the plan substantially complies with
standards to be adopted by the state board. Provided, That
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary,
moneys allocated by provision of this section may also be used in
the implementation and maintenance of the uniform integrated
regional computer information system;
(3) Up to twenty-five percent of this allocation may be used
to employ professional educators and service personnel in counties
after all applicable provisions of sections four and five of this
article have been fully utilized;
Prior to the use of any funds from this section for personnel
costs, the county board must receive authorization from the State
Superintendent of Schools. The state superintendent shall require the district board to demonstrate: (1) The need for the allocation;
(2) efficiency and fiscal responsibility in staffing; and (3)
sharing of services with adjoining counties and the regional
educational service agency for that county in the use of the total
local district board budget. District boards shall make application
for available funds for the next fiscal year by the first day of
May of each year. On or before the first day of June, the state
superintendent shall review all applications and notify applying
district boards of the distribution of the allocation. The funds
shall be distributed during the fiscal year appropriate. The state
superintendent shall require the county board to demonstrate the
need for an allocation for personnel based upon the county's
inability to meet the requirements of state law or state board
policy. Provided, That the Funds available for personnel under this
section may not be used to increase the total number of
professional non-instructional personnel in the central office
beyond four. The instructional improvement plan shall be made
available for distribution to the public at the office of each
affected county board.
(b) An amount not less than the amount required to meet debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued prior to the first
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and the debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued for the purpose of
refunding revenue bonds issued prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, shall be paid into the
School Building Capital Improvements Fund created by section six,
article nine-d of this chapter, and shall be used solely for the
purposes of that article. The School Building Capital Improvements
Fund shall not be utilized to meet the debt services requirement on
any revenue bonds or revenue refunding bonds for which moneys
contained within the School Building Debt Service Fund have been
pledged for repayment pursuant to that section.
When the school improvement bonds secured by funds from the
School Building Capital Improvements Fund mature, the State Board
of Education shall annually deposit an amount equal to twenty-four
million dollars from the funds allocated in this section into the
school construction fund created pursuant to the provisions of
section six, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of this code to
continue funding school facility construction and improvements.
(c) Any project funded by the School Building Authority shall
be in accordance with a comprehensive educational facility plan
which must be approved by the state board and the School Building
Authority.
(d) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
two thousand seven, and each fiscal year thereafter, the foundation
allowance for capacity building to assist schools that have been
identified as seriously impaired in accordance with section five,
article two-e of this chapter and schools that have not met adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years under the
federal "No Child Left Behind" statute shall be an amount of at
least five million dollars. The allowance for capacity building
shall be appropriated to the state board. The state board shall
adopt a rule in accordance with article three-b, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code establishing criteria for distribution
of these funds to schools. The first priority shall be schools that
have been identified as seriously impaired. The second priority
shall be schools that have failed to make adequately yearly
progress on test assessments for at least two consecutive years.
Each year the state board shall make a report to the Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability on the number of
schools that have received capacity building money the previous
year and what impact these resources had on removing a school from
the seriously impaired list or the list of schools failing to meet
adequately yearly progress under the provisions of the "No Child
Left Behind Act."
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment
of property.
(a) On the basis of each county's certificates of valuation as
to all classes of property as determined and published by the
Assessors pursuant to section six, article three, chapter eleven of
this code for the next ensuing fiscal year in reliance upon the
assessed values annually developed by each county assessor pursuant to the provisions of articles one-c and three of said chapter, the
state board shall for each county compute by application of the
levies for general current expense purposes, as defined in section
two of this article, the amount of revenue which the levies would
produce if levied upon one hundred percent of the assessed value of
each of the several classes of property contained in the report or
revised report of the value, made to it by the Tax Commissioner as
follows:
(1) The state board shall first take ninety five percent of
the amount ascertained by applying these rates to the total
assessed public utility valuation in each classification of
property in the county.
(2) The state board shall then apply these rates to the
assessed taxable value of other property in each classification in
the county as determined by the Tax Commissioner and shall deduct
therefrom five percent as an allowance for the usual losses in
collections due to discounts, exonerations, delinquencies and the
like. All of the amount so determined shall be added to the ninety
five percent of public utility taxes computed as provided in
subdivision (1) of this subsection and this total shall be further
reduced by the amount due each county assessor's office pursuant to
the provisions of section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of
this code and this amount shall be the local share of the
particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local
share that may be required prior to the report to the Legislature
by the Tax Commissioner, the State Board of Education shall use the
most recent projections or estimations that may be available from
the Tax Department for that purpose.
(b) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission shall fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of
this section in setting the valuations of property for assessment
purposes in any class or classes of property in the county, the
State Tax Commissioner shall review the valuations for assessment
purposes made by the county assessor and the county commission and
shall direct the county assessor and the county commission to make
corrections in the valuations as necessary so that they shall
comply with the requirements of chapter eleven of this code and
this section and the Tax Commissioner shall enter the county and
fix the assessments at the required ratios. Refusal of the
assessor or the county commission to make the corrections
constitutes grounds for removal from office.
(c) For the purposes of any computation made in accordance
with the provisions of this section, in any taxing unit in which
tax increment financing is in effect pursuant to the provisions of
article eleven-b, chapter seven of this code, the assessed value of
a related private project shall be the base assessed value as
defined in section two of said article.
(d) For purposes of any computation made in accordance with
the provisions of this section, in any county where the county
board of education has adopted a resolution choosing to use the
provisions of the growth county school facilities act set forth in
section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code,
estimated school board revenues generated from application of the
regular school board levy rate to new property values, as that term
is designated in said section, may not be considered local share
funds and shall be subtracted before the computations in
subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a) of this section are made.
(e) Any additional funds received by a county board as a
result of reduction in percentage of levies for general current
expense purpose from ninety-eight percent to seventy percent and
from the reduction of the computation of public utility taxes as
provided in subdivision (1) of this section shall be used to
improve the salaries of classroom teachers and service personnel
employed by the county board. These funds shall be distributed
seventy percent to increase the salaries of classroom teachers and
thirty percent to increase the salaries of service personnel.
§18-9A-13b. Allowance for legislative reserve fund, current
expense and substitute costs.
Commencing with the school fiscal year beginning on the first
day of July, two thousand seven, and every fiscal year thereafter,
funds which accrue from allocations due to a separate appropriation shall be made in the State Department of Education budget, to be
designated as the education salary enhancement line item, that is
equal to the reduction in the amount of funds required to be
appropriated for the basic foundation program pursuant to this
article as a result of a decrease decreases in net and adjusted
enrollment enrollments from the net and adjusted enrollments of the
preceding school year shall be deposited in a special revenue fund
which is hereby created in the State Treasury, designated the
"legislative reserve fund". The fund shall be an interest bearing
account and shall be appropriated by the Legislature. The
allocation of the funds appropriated for this purpose each year
shall be used to enhance the salaries of classroom teachers and
service personnel and shall be allocated seventy percent for
classroom teachers and thirty percent for service personnel.
§18-9A-21. Funding for alternative education programs.
(a) Commencing with the fiscal year beginning on the first day
of July, two thousand seven, and every fiscal year thereafter, an
appropriation of at least eight million dollars shall may be made
to the state department to be distributed to county boards for the
operation of alternative education programs established in
accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the state board
under section six, article two of this chapter. Provided, That
nothing in this section shall be construed to require any specific
level of funding by the Legislature: Provided, however, That ninety percent of any Two million dollars of the appropriation
which may be made for the purposes set forth in this section shall
be distributed to county boards on the basis of net enrollment and
ten percent six million dollars of this appropriation shall be
distributed on a competitive grants basis to county boards for the
operation of pilot or innovative alternative education programs.
Provided further, That for the fiscal year beginning the first day
of July, two thousand, the total appropriation which may be made
for the purposes set forth in this section shall be distributed to
the county boards on the basis of net enrollment.
(b) The state superintendent shall grant county boards awards
for pilot or innovative alternative education programs that promote
safe schools base on the following criteria:
(1) Programs that will serve the most students in the
alternative program;
(2) Programs in elementary schools that utilize in-school
suspension and requirements that alternative students work their
way back into the regular classroom through improved behavior;
(3) Programs in middle or junior high schools and high schools
that provide at least sixteen hours of instruction per week and
requirements that students work their way back into the regular
classroom through improved behavior;
(6) (4) Other criteria developed by the State Board of
Education.
(b) Each county board shall apply to the state superintendent
for receipt of its share of the distribution competitive grants in
the manner set forth by the state superintendent which is
consistent with the policies and procedures adopted by the state
board for the establishment and maintenance of alternative
education programs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reform the school aid
formula by reducing from ninety-eight percent to seventy percent
the amount of the regular levy deducted from county boards of
education for general current expense purposes; by ensuring that
improved instructional programs receive at least $33 million
annually; by providing at least $5 million to the State Board of
Education to assist low-performing schools; by capturing moneys
from declining enrollment and direct it to salaries of classroom
teachers and service personnel; and by requiring at least an $8
milion annual appropriation for alternative education programs.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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